City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Adrian Burke put his team through the ringer early, and it’s paying off late.

The West Philadelphia coach, his Speedboys coming off confidence-building runs in the Public League and PIAA Class 4A playoffs, scheduled a brutal non-league slate in December to make sure his team was as prepared as it could be come February.

“Our first game was at Chester, Chester was so packed out,” Burke said. “Then we went to (West Catholic), then we went to Carroll, then we went to O’Hara, then we played St. Joe’s Prep,” he said, and Roman Catholic followed Prep. “We took some lumps, and now we’re giving a little bit of lumps back.”

Though the Speedboys started off their season with only two wins in their first nine games, losing to five different Catholic League playoff squads, they’ve turned it around since the calendar hit 2023. And once again, West Philadelphia’s making a big playoff push, their eighth straight win overall coming in the Public League quarterfinals, 74-65 over Boys’ Latin on Thursday afternoon. 

They’ll take on Constitution next Tuesday at Temple’s Liacouras Center; Imhotep Charter and Dobbins Tech will meet in the other semifinal.

“We started off kind of weak, but as the season progressed, we kept doing better, kept doing better,” Burke said. “We went everywhere, played everybody, and I think it helped the kids for games like this, when the games were real tough and we’ve got to make a play, got to control possession. 

“I’m ecstatic, ecstatic for the kids, it was a great win for the school, this is the second year we’ve got an opportunity to go to the final four, hopefully we make it to the championship game.”

The gym was loud and rowdy with strong student support from both schools, located only a little more than a mile apart in West Philly, the West Philadelphia cheerleaders adding to the energetic atmosphere.

Every bucket, every turnover, every foul brought a loud roar from one of the two student sections in attendance, not to mention the various family members, friends and community folks in the stands at West Philly — and there were plenty of buckets, plenty of turnovers and plenty of fouls in the nearly two-hour contest, which featured no lack of effort on either side.

“Anytime West and Boys’ Latin get together, this is what you’re going to get,” Burke said. “The teams are competitive, one year they knocked us out [of the Pub playoffs] so I guess it was our turn to knock them out.”

In 2020, West Philly beat Constitution in the first round of the Public League playoffs — then lost to Boys’ Latin in the second round. Last year, they beat the Generals by a point to make it to the league semifinals, where the Speedboys ran up against Imhotep, then Neumann-Goretti in the District 12 4A championship, before beating Allentown Central Catholic and Trinity for the program’s first-ever state playoff wins.

Though they’re without the two biggest pieces from last year’s run, Deyishon Miller and Nasir Washington, but a few remain, including seniors Elijah Hester and John Fields, who combined for 23 points in the win over Boys’ Latin.

John (left) and Perry Fields went head-to-head for the last time in their high school careers. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

It was an especially emotional win for Fields, who was playing against his brother, Boys’ Latin junior Perry Fields, who led his team with 25 points.

“Yeah it was a crazy thing,” John Fields said. “Perry, he’s a wonderful player, he’s a great player, he’s got a lot of IQ. College coaches, just keep an eye on him. Next year’s going to be scary for him.”

The biggest star of the evening was West Philadelphia’s Makel Butts, who scored 30 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter to help the Speedyboys hold Boys’ Latin off down the stretch. The 6-7 wing, who played 11 games as a freshman at Freire Charter last year but is likely going to end up in the 2026 class, missed his first shot but hit his next five over the first and second quarters, and had 14 by halftime, with West Philly holding a 33-29 lead.

Butts went scoreless in the third, Fields and Hester picking up the slack as the Speedboys took a 48-43 lead into the fourth. But he hit his only two 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, as well as going eight-for-eight from the foul line in the closing period. He also put the exclamation point on the wing, driving from the wing for a poster dunk that brought by far the loudest reaction of the night.

“Makel played wonderful today, he was locked in, he stayed focused,” Fields said. “He was just ready for this, I’m very proud of him.”

“The limit for this kid, the ceiling is so high for this kid,” Burke said, “and I think he’s ready for the challenge, I really think he’s ready for the challenge.”

The two teams combined to shoot 67 foul shots — 33 by Boys’ Latin, 34 by West Philly — each making 24, 49 of those attempts coming in the second half. Boys’ Latin briefly took a couple one-point leads in the fourth quarter, but West Philadelphia had an answer each time, getting a steal from Jabrill Jackson (9 points, 6 steals) or a tough take from Fields or Hester to get to the line to get a bucket.

“A lot of people doubted us this year, so we’ve just got a chip on our shoulder and we want to prove everybody wrong and that we deserve to be here,” Fields said. “That’s why we’re going hard, we’re just going hard.”

In Constitution, their fellow ‘A’ Division opponent, West Philadelphia has a chance to make up for a 61-56 win from back in December, back before the Speedboys got into their winning ways. If they get past the Generals, they’ll be a big underdog against Imhotep, one of the team teams in the country, but they won’t back down from anybody.

“It feels good, we feel good, I feel good about it,” Fields said. “I feel like the job’s not done, we’re in the final four now, we’ve just got to keep pushing it and keep being strong and finish strong. We’ve got to keep pushing until the end, until it’s all over.”

By Quarter
Boys’ Latin:  15  |  14  |  14  |  22  ||  65
West Philly:  23  |  10  |  15  |  26  ||  74

Shooting
Boys’ Latin: 18-44 FG (5-16 3PT), 24-33 FT
West Philly: 22-52 FG (6-23 3PT), 24-34 FT

Scoring
Boys’ Latin: Perry Fields 25, Terrell Pough 15, Zasheen Levins 9, Michael Stewart Jr. 8, Tysir Hicks 6, Jamar Williams 2

West Philly: Makel Butts 30, Elijah Hester 12, John Fields 10, Jabrill Jackson 9, Jayden McKie 5, Jaden Williams 4, Khabir Washington 3